Garment-fastener.



G. W. PRBNTIUE.

GARMENT FASTENERL APPLIOATION FILED APR.26, 1908.

9 3,390, Patented July 5,1910.

' 1 fig/i? inc NORRIS PETERS cm, wnsnnvaran. nc.

GEORGE W. PRENTICE, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.

GARMENT-FASTENER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 5, 1910.

Application filed April 25, 1908. Serial No. 429,160.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE W: PRENTICE, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Providence, in the county of Providence and State of Rhode Island, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in GarmentFasteners, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in fastening devices arranged to be attached to garments, the device herewith being more particularly adapted to be employed as a substitute for the well-known hooks-and-eyes used in connection with ladies wearing apparel, and it consists essentially of an attachable relatively stationary flat holding member of wire having a slightly resilient tongue, and an attachable flat relatively slidable fellow member of metal bent to form a loop arranged to receive said tongue therethrough; when thus united the latter inst antly snaps back to its normal position so as to support and maintain the loop thereon, and having the several elements of the device lying flatwise and parallel with one another in a common plane relatively to the surfaces to which the device is attached, all as more fully hereinafter set forth and claimed.

The ob ect I have in view 1s to produce an inexpensive fastening device having the two securing members thereof arranged to be readily sewed or attached flatwise to a garment whereby the latter may be subjected to the usual laundering operations with greater facility and without injury to the fastening device itself, since it lies snugly against the fabric and is substantially uniform in thickness throughout. As the device has no part thereof projecting above or beyond its fiat normal plane any tendency of its getting caught or entangled with other textile articles of wearing apparel when in use is reduced to a minimum.

It may be added that the device herewith constitutes improved means for holding the two adjacent edges of a garment together with less liability of its being accidentally unfastened or unclasped; the device also prevents undue movement of the edges in a longitudinal direction while at the same time permitting sufiicient flexibility to the garment or other article of wearing apparel to which it is attached.

In the accompanying sheet of drawings the figure represents, in enlarged scale, a plan View of the garment-fastening device embodying the present invention, the two members thereof being clasped or coupled together.

in my improved garment-fastening device the main holding member A thereof is as drawn formed from a single piece of wire, the other or cooperating flat slidable fellow loop member B being also formed from a single piece of wire, or from a blank cut from thin sheet-metal stock. The said holding member A is integral, as before stated, and has a substantially straight shank or back a terminating at each end in an attaching portion or eye a As drawn the wire is bent so as to form the closed upper eye; the free end portion of the stock of the other or lower eye extends upwardly and substantially parallel with said shank to form the tongue a its upper part a being deflected laterally at an angle and terminating in the enlarged end a The center or loop holding portion of the tongue is ofi'set, thereby providing a correspondingly elongated opening 0, the entrance to which is kept normally closed by the resiliency of the tongue; the latter being in frictional contact with the upper eye at (1 The other or loop member B is also integral and formed from a piece of wire 6 bent to pro duce the elongated eye or loop proper 0 adapted to freely receive therethrough the free end portion of the tongue of member A. The arms or side members of the loop may be crossed and in snug contact with each other, as at 6 each terminating in an attaching eye 6 The latter are adapted to lie flatwise in a common plane and are separated a suitable distance, all as clearly shown in Fig. 1. Now, assuming that the members A and B have been properly positioned flatwise upon the respective edge portions of a garment and attached thereto by stitches passing through the perforated ends or eyes a and b of the corresponding members, the manner of operation may be described as follows :The eye part 0 of the loop B is easily and readily passed endwise over the free end of the holders tongue and into the opening 0, the tongue at the same time yielding and permitting the loop to pass the entrance a after which the tongue springs back to the normally closed position with a snap-like sound. Obviously a pulling force'is exerted longitudinally of the members, the point of actual contact or pull or force of the loop member B is at I substantially parallel with each other. This construction differs materially from hooksd'evices embodying the principle thereof arate the two members.

In my improved garment-fastening device construction and manner of operation is that when in use the direction of the line of substantially right angles to the longitudinal axis or laterally of the other or holding member" A, both then lying fiatwise and and-eyes and other analogous garment-fasv tening means as usually devised in which hooks, are employed in that in the latter the engagement being at the bight of the bends. I I would statethat without departing from the spirit of my invention other means or may be used inlieu of the exact'constru ction represented in V the drawings, provided of I course that such substitute means employed fall within the scope of the appended claim.

I claim as my invention and desirerto secure by United States Letters Patent In a garment-fastening device the onepiece hook member herein described formed from wire, the same consisting of a shank portion terminating at each end in an attaching eye, a resilient tongue part extending from one of said eyes substantially parallel with and contiguous to said shank portion provided with a centrally located offset bend and terminating in a bent free end part disposed adjacent the other eye and forming therebetween a normally closed passage, and having all of the said parts of the device lying flatwise in a common plane.

Signed at Providence, R. 1., this 24th day of April, 1908.

' GEORGE W. PRENTICE.

Witnesses FRANKLIN A. SMITH, Jr., D. F. SHERMAN. 

